Azov Battalion Responded to the Claim to Designate It as a Terrorist Organization in the USA

OREANDA-NEWS. The Ukrainian Battalion Azov considers the appeal of 40 USA congressmen to include it in the list of foreign terrorist organizations to be “an information attack on Ukraine, its sovereignty and state security.”

Earlier, a group of American congressmen had addressed a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asking them to explain why the Azov Battalion was not included in that list. The letter noted that the UN found cases of human rights violations and torture in this group. Congressmen emphasized with reference to the FBI that despite this, the battalion continues to recruit, radicalize and train American citizens.

Azov is one of the so-called volunteer battalions, which were financed from private sources and participated in the military operation in Donbass. Later, the Ukrainian authorities said that there should not be illegal armed groups in the country, and volunteer military units were invited to join the regular army of Ukraine.

The Investigative Committee of Russia brought a criminal charge against the fighters of the Azov Battalion connected with kidnapping, tortures, and use of prohibited means of warfare.

The report responding to US congressmen claim was published on Azov’s website. It says that the congressmen’s appeal is an “unmitigated nonsense.” “The Azov Regiment, as the official structure of the National Guard, is subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and the General Staff, and we guess that equating Azov to terrorists, 40 members of the House of Representatives of the USA equated to terrorists all other Ukrainian units that defended Ukraine at the front,” the statement says.